Saturday, March 9th, 2013...11:55 PM

Hello Tripawds!

So…Sampson T. Wonder Dog is 12 years, 8 months old. His dad was a sweet-tempered Akita and his mother was a sleek, short-coated, black and tan GSD/Dobie cross. Sammer himself was one of 13 young puppies left at the Dane County (WI) Humane Society as a result of a hoarding/cruelty situation. Also surrendered were members of the previous litter…which is how I found him–I had been looking for a large-breed dog, particularly a GSD or Akita, and I saw one dog I liked, about 7 months old, but he was on hold. The shelter worker said, if you like him…come with me–there’s a litter of his full siblings, just ready for adoption today.

Out of that group, nine were black with tan, short coated puppies like his mom. Three were not–I chose one of those, and he became Sampson.

In my mind, I wanted a dog who would go running with me, eventually, and do all sorts of frolicky-type activities. What I got was a philodendron with fur. Which, as it turns out, was exactly what I needed (Thank you Rolling Stones). He is a sweet-tempered gent, slightly twitchy and neurotic (which he TOTALLY doesn’t get from me ;-)), but has always been content to amble along and occasionally hump a golden retriever at the dog park.

In many ways, he is very much his father’s son–sweet-tempered, but he has the akita aloofness, for sure. He’s never been a snuggler, but he always wants to be near you. And while he’s not a boundary-pusher, per se, he is STUBBORN. Which, since he’s so mellow, is usually not an issue. Oooh, but when he decides he wants (or usually doesn’t want) to do something, it’s like moving Ferdinand the Bull. He is just going to sit there, munching his daisies, and decide to do whatever on his own sweet time. He can dig his feet in, pin his ears back, and give you the stink eye like no one’s business. (Sam has “the stink eye” and “the crazy eye.” Beware of both.)

He is NOT animal aggressive in any way, however…and eventually, he was joined by siblings Maxxie cat (age 11, brown tabby); Frank (10, orange tabby); Momo (9, fatty bombatty black cat); Sadie the dog (7 year old GSD mix, whois probably the reason female dogs are called what they are); and finally, Finnegan the Naughty (1-year-old Devil in a Tuxedo-colored kitten suit). In between Maxxie and Frank, I also acquired Patrick, my long suffering human companion and now DH.

So…that brings us up to now: on March 6, Sam was diagnosed with bone cancer; we amputated his left front leg the next day. TA-DA!

This blog is worthless without pics, and so we shall get to those shortly!

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